Forza on Kinect wins over car manufacturers

The team behind Microsoft’s Forza Motorsport 4 says it leading car firms are lining up for inclusion in the game, thanks to its Kinect features.

Announced at E3 last year, the Autovista mode uses the Xbox 360’s motion-sensing camera to let players explore the exterior and interior of every car included in the game – and now manufacturers are keen to have their vehicles showcased in the same way.

Speaking to the Guardian, the game’s creative director Dan Greenawalt said: “Because of Autovista, honestly, [it’s] the first time [manufacturers have] said ‘this is crazy’.

“They want to show it to their board of directors. The idea of seeing the car on a giant projector and being able to walk around it via Kinect, that has definitely got different departments within these companies interested.”

He went on to add that the number of executives who are excited about the technology has made it much easier to add new cars to the series.

“These are multinational companies and so generally most of us in the video games space deal with the licensing organisation,” Greenawalt explained. “They have marketing organisations, they have design and racing organisations – and those groups don’t necessarily talk to each other all the time, just like in any corporation.

“So for the first time, with Autovista, we reached the higher levels – the boards, the chief executives. We’ve got them thinking ‘this has huge potential’. All of a sudden, we’re getting calls from manufacturers saying ‘hey, we want to talk to you about this’ and we’ll say ‘well, you know, we’ve already spoken – we talked to your licensing guys. They’re in the same building as you’.”

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